Choice
by Cana-banana
Summary: The apocalypse is over. Sigrid has been defeated, the ministry is down. But you, Runner 5, vanished on a run 3 years ago - You were declared dead by Colonel Janine DeLuca. It turns out that you are, in fact, alive against the odds. What do you wish to do? Will you return to Abel Township to tell them that you live? YES – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 1 NO – IGNORE AND KEEP SCROLLING
1. CHAPTER 1 - BABY I'M BACK

**SUMMARY:**

The apocalypse is over. Sigrid and the Ministry has been defeated and settlements of survivors are starting to become small cities – The world is starting to recover. Abel too.

But during a scouting mission 3 years, 2 months and 8 days ago, you, Runner 5, vanished from Abel Township without a trace. No backpack, no runner number, no dead or undead body was found, only a broken headset - but Colonel Janine DeLuca declared you dead after 9 months of searching in vain and no indication of life. Many grieved cross-country and even cross-borders.

They never knew that you survived for this long, against the odds. And now, after the end of the end of the world, it might be time for you to return.

What do you wish to do? Will you return to Abel Township?

YES – PRESS TITLE AND PROCEED TO CHAPTER 1

NO – IGNORE AND KEEP SCROLLING

[There will be individual spoiler warnings for the chapters – Generally, there may be some spoiler-y references to events up until season 5, as well as characters met until Season 4. I will try to keep it all minimal, though! You will likely get the most of the fic if you're more or less up-to-date, not to be said that it can't be read otherwise! The end of the apocalypse has not yet happened in the game; Everything here is from my own imagination!]

 **CHAPTER ONE: BABY I'M BACK**

[Authors note: This chapter contains no spoilers for any of the seasons! Enjoy!]

One-two-one-two. Breathe in breathe out. You let your feet thump against the ground in rhythm to the imaginary, stable beat in your mind that your breath follows. It's the way you've always done it – Either that, or humming an upbeat tune you might have listened to sometime before the apocalypse, when running was just exercise and not a skill that lives depended on. Not as often, anyways. There are still zombies around these days, but they are few and usually long between.

You don't need to consider the route. Your feet knows where to carry you even when you are absentminded, because it is a familiar line of trees to the left and wide open plains to the right, a well-known, worn down path and open land ahead and behind.

You really are still not sure about this. After all, your disappearance from Abel Township was sudden and you haven't said a word to any of them since then, not even a clue that you were still alive and maybe it would just startle them, perhaps upset them if you returned. Hell, you don't know if they are even still all alive. At this point, though, you cannot make yourself stop because you just need to _know_ if they are doing okay and if they are, well, maybe you can leave silently.

Anyways, your mind keeps getting side-tracked with these thoughts, huh? It is hard not to let them. You feel your backpack thumping against your back and try to let it distract you from the thought you know will come next, but it is almost impossible not to.

Abandoning Abel was never easy. If it could even be called abandon – Maybe not initially but it may have become abandonment the moment you decided not to return, no matter what reason you had.

So, Runner 5. What was your reason to leave Abel Township behind?

IT WAS AN UNWILLING CHOICE AFTER BEING ATTACKED ON THE SCOUTING – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 2

IT WAS A WILLING CHOICE OF MY OWN – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 3


	2. CHAPTER 2 - NEVER FORGET

**CHAPTER 2: NEVER FORGET**

[Authors note: Spoiler warning for Season 3-4, mostly in the sense of mentioning a few characters and whose side they are on! If you do not know who Ian Golightly is, then this chapter may seem confusing to you. Enjoy!]

" _Runner 5, do you copy?_ "

You nod, but realize that this is obviously not visible through the comms and you quickly add a short 'yep' between two breaths as you jog at a rather decent pace. You didn't have time to warm up before going, so you consider this your warm-up, which Janine thankfully doesn't mind. It's not like you are running for your life yet.

" _Good._ " You hear the shuffling of paper, likely some mission briefing notes that Janine keeps for her own reference – And Sam's, because he still 'forgets' to read them.

He elaborates from somewhere next to Janine in the comms room. " _Yeah, this should be an easy one, 5. Just a perimeter run to make sure Sigrid's remaining isn't making some... Funky advances of any sort. Y'know, even with her out of the picture, a few of the loyal ones, namely Ian, are kinda, uh, keen on getting revenge if you know what I'm saying._ "

Well, obviously. It wasn't like Ian would have liked you even if you hadn't helped take Sigrid down – You always got in his way in the first place and his priorities were always askew from yours, so you didn't get along well. You never tried to, though, especially not after the whole 'i'm gonna kill you' business.

" _Although I might not have phrased it exactly like that, Mr. Yao, that is what we are doing, yes. You just need to run around the perimeter through the woodland path to make sure that the area is safe from both zombies and Sigrid's people."_

" _And especially not Sigrid's people as zombies!"_

A sigh. " _No, especially not that. Go on Five, give it a short burst of speed and then this should be over with in a good 40 minutes._ "

You smile to yourself, mostly because you can almost sense Sam's sullen expression when Janine takes his joke seriously. It happens so often that you know exactly what _that_ silence sounds like. But it's reassuring, because you know that as long as Sam jibbers and Janine's annoyed at him, everything's fine and nothing's out of order. Sam also jokes when he's stressed but it's a different kind, where he sounds legitimately terrified at the same time and Janine immediately would become very strict and straight-forward if something was wrong.

So you listen to their trivial talking, with an occasional instruction in-between like 'turn right here' or 'got a few zoms on your tail, try and speed up a bit', which you follow.

By the time you reach the forest, your mind has started to wander, because it does and you listen with half an ear into the comms but Janine and Sam are also just chattering about which is normal, so you think none of it. You should know that it's dangerous to let your mind drift – The apocalypse hasn't ended yet, so there are always risks and it's important to consider them.

It's just not always that you do it. This time, you forgot. Sam forgot, Janine forgot. It was a pleasant stroll for you honestly and you weren't paying attention.

In retrospect, you would realize that that noise you'd heard wasn't static from the headset, nor was the shuffling sound behind you from one of the trailing zombies and you'd remember Sarah's advice to never _ever_ ignore a noise out of place. You had no idea what was wrong until Janine broke Sam off mid-sentence, likely with some violent gesture with her hand and leaning towards the mic,

" _Five, we have no cameras in that part of the forest, but I can see figures on the scanner. Not zombies – Someone's following you._ "

You can hear the tension through the calm of her voice and you do tense but you do not look behind you and you do not turn around, just like you've trained. The moment you do, whoever 'someone' is, they will know that they've been noticed if you react. "What do I do?" You answer quietly with your eyes straight forward and pace not changing.

" _Uhhh, hang on, don't stop- I'm trying to get some of the other cameras to give me some feed on who it is… Arh, I can't see anything with these bloody trees everywhere! Janine, do you have any idea of who it is? Any chance it's just Amelia trying to give us a good scare or something?"_

" _You're not far from the edge of the forest, you can get out of there if you put on a burst of speed and then we have you on camera-"_

If Janine continues, you don't hear her. There is shuffling in the bushes, you cry out defensively when someone grabs your arm, and try to yank it free immediately. As you do, you see that it is a strong man who grips you and you do not know him, but he does not let go when you struggle, although you put up quite the fight.

With all good reason, you assume that he is an enemy and your free hand go to your utility belt for your gun, which has a bit of ammo left just in case.

" _Five! Oh my God—Five, what's going on!? I hate not being able to see anything! Get out of there, come on!"_

There is some more jabbering in your ear from both Sam and Janine but it's all pretty vague to you since none of it really helps you currently, struggling against a man who is quite a lot taller and broader than yourself while you try to get your gun.

Your fingers tough the cold metal – They brush it, you are so close to wrapping your fingers around it when something even colder and definitely metallic hits the side of your head and you might have screamed or just rasped out hoarsely, you're not quite sure, but you don't remember how you ended up on the ground – That's for certain.

Now you're there, though. Your vision is swimming and voices sound as if they are underwater as a face comes into your view and you would have bolted up if the damn world hadn't been so close to disappearing into a black ring that is dangerously close to enveloping your eyesight fully.

" _Five? Five! Oh God, Janine, I think they've got Five! You gotta do something!"_

" _I know, Mr. Yao, I'm working on it! But I don't know who we are up against!"_

Janine sounds aggressive, but she does under pressure and you want to tell her that you know who you are up against, but your voice fails you.

"Sam Yao, what a pleasure to hear your voice again! And Miss DeLuca – Don't worry! The good news is that you _know_ who you are up against! The bad news is that you can do nothing about it!"

" _Ian!_ "

Ian Golightly always spoke with an uncomfortably nasal accent that you'd despise whether he was your ally or not, but at least it's recognizable from anywhere. You make an attempt to stand but a foot presses down on your hand none-too-gently and the other hand is already restrained by the soldier as your hear a van pulling up somewhere nearby.

" _Ian, there is no good for you doing this! The Minister is dead, no one's going to praise you for capturing our runner!"_

"Oh Janine, so naïve, thinking that I do this to please a dead person! If everyone had stopped trying to satisfy the dead, a lot more lives could have been saved, don't you think?" Ian snickers at his own comment. "No, I just think Runner 5 here has been a menace throughout all of this and I wanted some fun now that you'd all let your guard down for a little while!"

" _Ian, I swear if you hurt Runner 5—"_

You didn't hear more from them. Your headset was taken out, Ian stepped on it right in front of you, breaking it into tiny fragments, and after that, you were hauled into the car.

The next long while, you were with _them._ The remaining holders of Sigrid's loyalty, and if not that, at least shared hatred for you. You were not the only prisoner, there were a few other people none of whom you knew (which you weren't sure if you appreciated or not) that somehow had also been an inconvenience to these people and needed their punishment.

They were not kind to you. And at several points, they almost broke you but they never fully did.

It was one of the other prisoners who helped you escape from there after god-knows-how-long. She was a lady in her 60ies who had apparently been frustratingly against Ian's ideas and continuously pestered him about it to the point of driving him mad. She told you, one night, that her family had mostly died in the apocalypse and that she had been against Sigrid the moment she discovered what Abel had known. And she knew who you were.

Her self-sacrifice was one you would always remember. The distraction she offered for you was likely enough to have gotten her killed, but she had snuck you the few rations she had managed to hide before they searched her and despite your protests had said that 'her time was over now'. She would never regain it, she said, not fully and happily and would rather have someone escape at her expense than for both of them to live and die miserably.

So you got out in the dark of night, alone, with only few rations and no contacts, with no idea where you were. Ian's folk noticed and he cried after you that 'he would get you killed no matter the sacrifices it took' but they never caught you again.

The first time went on finding food, staying alive and as you did that, you tried to find any settlement at which you could use a radio to contact Abel.

Doing that took longer than anticipated, but you did it – However contacting them, you did not. You started by tuning in to the different frequencies to figure out if anyone was there at all and you found that Sam was, and almost spoke up—Until you overheard the door open and close in the comms room and the operator shushing the newcomer.

" _Sarah's finally asleep._ " He whispered and you could hear the smile in his voice and then following, the soft, amused chuckle of Maxine Meyers, quiet footsteps coming closer to the mic.

" _Good… Janine asked me to tell you that you can go to bed too. It's late, and all the runners are back home safely for the night._ "

You hold your breath, staring at the microphone in front of you and wondering if you should speak up and say that one was missing but you instead just awaited Sam's response, unable to make yourself interrupt.

There is silence on the line for a few seconds and you wonder if the sound has died, until Sam responded with a " _Yeah, I know. I'll be out in a sec._ " And you felt your stomach twist a bit. Not necessarily in betrayal or anger or anything because you weren't there and didn't count as 'a runner back home safely' anymore, because who could blame them? You'd been gone for so long now, at least it felt like that…

But you feel sad. Because you aren't a runner back home safely anymore. If all runners are back home and you were not there, you don't fall under the category of a runner of Abel anymore, you'd suppose. The microphone stare at you as aggressively as you stare at it but you bit your lip and flick the 'mute' switch to 'on' and sigh, staring at the black screen and your blurry reflection in it.

Well, you had only arrived as a helicopter-crash refugee technically. Sam and Maxi sounded happy enough… You don't know what had happened in Abel in the meantime. Maybe, yeah, maybe contacting them would just bring back the past now. And besides, if Ian is still hunting you down, going to Abel would bring them at risk and you don't want that.

So you don't contact them – Only listen in occasionally from different radio stations, just to check up and make sure they are okay. It was fine that you aren't there, if they are safe. You always had a feeling that you brought more trouble to Abel than good anyways.

Over the years that eventually passed, you sent them some anonymous packages too through a few contacts, pretending that it is some care package from an unheard-of military group. Usually some silly items from somewhere or even the occasional food item that you know someone will love back home. As a form of consolation to yourself and them, maybe.

But, so long after, you decide to seek them out anyways because you can only get so much intel from radios and you want to see them, even if they don't see you. Correct?

IF YES – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 4

IF NO – YOU DO NOT CONTACT ABEL AND REMAIN ANONYMOUS. RETURN TO ZOMBIES, RUN SEARCH TAG


	3. CHAPTER 3 - KEEP ON WALKING

**CHAPTER 3: KEEP ON WALKING**

[Authors note: No spoilers for any of the seasons apart from a minor reference to Ian Golightly from Season 3-4. Enjoy!]

" _Runner 5, do you copy?_ "

You nod, but realize that this is obviously not visible through the comms and you quickly add a short 'yep' between two breaths as you jog at a rather decent pace. You didn't have time to warm up before going, so you consider this your warm-up, which Janine thankfully doesn't mind. It's not like you are running for your life yet. If Janine had listened hard enough, she'd notice that your voice was strained for more reasons than just a light jog (it honestly doesn't affect you much generally).

" _Good._ " You hear the shuffling of paper, likely some mission briefing notes that Janine keeps for her own reference – And Sam's, because he still 'forgets' to read them. Doesn't seem like any of them noticed.

He elaborates from somewhere next to Janine in the comms room. " _Yeah, this should be an easy one, 5. Just a perimeter run to make sure Sigrid's remaining isn't making some... Funky advances of any sort. Y'know, even with her out of the picture, a few of the loyal ones, namely Ian, are kinda, uh, keen on getting revenge if you know what I'm saying._ "

Well, obviously. It wasn't like Ian would have liked you even if you hadn't helped take Sigrid down – You always got in his way in the first place and his priorities were always askew from yours, so you didn't get along well. You never tried to, though, especially not after the whole 'i'm gonna kill you' business.

" _Although I might not have phrased it exactly like that, Mr. Yao, that is what we are doing, yes. You just need to run around the perimeter through the woodland path to make sure that the area is safe from both zombies and Sigrid's people."_

" _And especially not Sigrid's people as zombies!"_

A sigh. " _No, especially not that. Go on Five, give it a short burst of speed and then this should be over with in a good 40 minutes._ "

A small, 40 minute run. Should be enough, really. You more or less appreciated that Sam just kept on with his gibberish comments of Janine not appreciating his humor and Janine chiding him about his behavior on 'crucial missions'. It was just so.. Them. Just what you needed right now.

" _Thaaat's great Five! Strong pace – See I'll never understand how some people can run like this even after the apocalypse happened. I mean I would only last about 10 minutes at that pace."_

" _Try 6 minutes, Mr. Yao. Probably barely even. You always sit in the comms room, so why should you be able to run more?"_

" _Oi, are you saying I'm weak? Because I can assure you that although not as good as our head of runner, I can run from zombies for more than 6 minutes!"_

" _Do you want to test that on the training grounds?"_

" _Yeah you know, on second thought, 6 minutes seem about right."_

You smile to yourself and hear Janine sigh all the same but you know she doesn't mean it seriously. She pretends to be uptight in mission situations but is more light-hearted than she appears. You're going to miss that.

" _You'll be entering the forest soon, Five. It looks good and no zoms too close. We don't have cams in that dense area of the woods, you know, but I see nothing on the radar so you should be good."_

You're going to miss a lot of things, but it'll be for the best. You haven't told anyone about this – Only Owen looked at you a little strangely this morning when he saw you with quite the load in your backpack, but you didn't explain it, just hurried on.

It has been a long time coming, but you know it'll seem sudden from the outside because, well, it is. You have made the decision to leave Abel behind.

If you told Sam, Jody or Maxine or Paula or Owen they'd just be upset. Confused. Janine would be critically analytical as usual. Amelia would probably not be surprised, just assume it natural that you'd 'get bored eventually'. But you're not sure they'll understand so, as cowardly as it is, you assume it better if you just… Don't tell them.

Sam jabbers on in your ear about some old tv-show he watched as a kid while your feet carries you to the dense, woodland area that you know will be the end-station for you as an Abel Runner and the thought of telling them that you're gonna leave, hell, even the thought of not doing it at all, strikes you. You hold your ground for your own sake though; at least you tell yourself that.

It's not because you're tired of them and God forbid, it's not because you're betraying them. Not at all, you love Abel and the people there mean so much to you, they are your family.. Which is why you see it necessary to go. You know that many people across the country are still after you because you've got intel and you're a valuable personality and a lot of people still hold grudges (cough Ian cough). Staying in Abel is too dangerous for them, for little baby Sarah and for all those you care about.

That, as well as the fact that you yearn for some purpose. The zombie apocalypse isn't over but all you do these days is running perimeter runs and Janine says that it's a waste of resources to head further out… So now, you will do it yourself. And you'll likely take contact to Abel again soon enough and explain it all to them but you really need to get out for a bit. You're a runner, for Pete's sake, not a guard.

"Any zombies, Sam?" You ask and you hear Sam pause his sentence and hum thoughtfully before answering.

" _..Uhhhh no, it doesn't seem like it – Not nearby anyways, a small horde to the northwest but that's about all. They're a good 10 minutes away from you at ordinary pace._ " He explains calmly and you thank him.

No zoms in the direction you're heading. Good.

You know that there are no cameras here and you pause for a second when you hear Sam and Janine talking about something trivial again, just to reconsider… And then you make a break for it in another direction.

It takes a while before any of them notice.

" _Runner 5, what on Earth are you doing? You are far off route!_ " It's Janine who points it out and she sounds surprised and stern all the same, almost making you flinch like a child caught with its fingers in the cookie jar. " _Why are you heading East? Mr. Yao, did you not say there were no zombies on the path?"_

" _Eh, uh, yes—I mean no- well yeah there are no zombies on the path! Five, what are you doing?"_

Janine sounds stern and Sam sounds concerned. Just like how it's supposed to be, you think and bite your lip, not answering any of them.

" _Runner 5, report immediately! Where are you going?_ "

Already now, you are beginning to get out of range because the headset crackles a bit and you have to slow down because otherwise you'll be out of reach before you have a chance to say anything. But you do say something.

"I-I'm sorry, Janine, Sam—I'm really sorry, but I've gotta do this. I hope you understand."

" _Five what the hell—"_

" _What are you—"_

The voices talking on top of each other are cut off at the same time as you pull the headset off, breathe out shakily and toss it on the ground. You didn't actually mean to break it, because the equipment could still have been used but in your minor panic you throw it hard enough for the microphone to fall off, rendering it somewhat useless.

"..Sorry." You whisper again, more to yourself, as you (with some effort) turn to continue on your own route.

And this was what you did. You did mean to contact Abel again but it was harder to find a settlement than you thought and by the time you did, you got cold feet – You backed out on them without an explanation, incredibly suddenly. It would not surprise you if they were mad and you don't want to face that… What a chicken, actually.

Just like before the apocalypse, when you would mean to answer a text and never got around to it, and it would eventually reach a point where it would just be unacceptable to answer it at all – Yeah, that happened, it seemed. The longer time passed, the less you could make yourself message them because you became a fragment of the past. You still listened in on them occasionally, obviously, without saying anything. Just to make sure they were doing well.

Over the years that eventually passed, you sent them some anonymous packages too through a few contacts, pretending that it is some care package from an unheard-of military group. Usually some silly items from somewhere or even the occasional food item that you know someone will love back home. As a form of consolation to yourself and them, maybe.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. You're feel like you need to return to Abel to let them know you are still alive. Correct?

IF YES – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 4

IF NO – YOU DO NOT CONTACT ABEL AND REMAIN ANONYMOUS. RETURN TO ZOMBIES, RUN SEARCH TAG


End file.
